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Woman Who Voluntarily Lives Like 1950s Housewife May Save All Our Marriages

If
you're feeling like your marriage is in a rut, here's one option for shaking
things up: Try it 1950s-style.

Mandy and Gary Jones say living a 1950s lifestyle saved their marriage. They
dress in vintage clothes, decorate their house with kitschy mid-century
antiques, drive a 1949 Chevrolet, listen to rockabilly records on a jukebox, and
yes, have even reverted to 1950s-style gender roles. "It may seem strange and we
get the odd nasty comment," Mandy Jones says, "but this way of life works for us
and has saved our marriage."

In fact, the Joneses think we should all "take advice from our grandparents"
and live the '50s way. "1950s marriages definitely work better than marriages
these days," Mandy says. She'll have to forgive my skepticism, but that's not
what my divorced-in-the-1950s grandmother says. But let's give these
two the benefit of the doubt, because they really do seem happy. What is
it about their marriage that's working, and what can we learn from
it?

1. Mandy has dinner waiting on the table when Gary comes home from
work. Lucky Gary! Maybe if you both work all day, you could take turns
treating each other? I know I'd love to come home to dinner on the table.

2. They eat "wholesome 1950s food" in their diner-style
kitchen. Sitting down to eat dinner together every night is going to
benefit your relationship, no doubt about it. And if the food is healthy, all
the better. It doesn't have to be meatloaf and potatoes, but hey, if that floats
your boat, great.

3. Mandy makes her own vintage-style clothes "to impress her
husband." I think you should never stop trying to impress each other,
both wives and husbands. It doesn't matter how you do this, just that you still
care. And I bet Gary is appreciative of Mandy's efforts -- that's important,
too.

4. Instead of spending their weekends drinking at the local bar, they
go dancing and take trips to vintage fairs. You need some interesting
hobbies to do together besides drinking, or watching TV, or anything passive.
"If you've got a common interests together," Gary says, "it definitely makes you
stronger."

5. Their vacations are built around dance festivals. What do
you both love doing together? Could you build a vacation around that?

6. They've made friends in the vintage dance and collecting
scene. You can't expect to get everything you need just from each
other. You need to build a support network of friends, too.

I don't think we have to actually adopt a 1950s lifestyle to make a marriage
happier. But it seems clear that sharing a common vision for life and enjoying
activities together has grown this couple's passion for each other. And that's
something any couple will benefit from, no matter what your favorite decade
is.

What do you think of this vintage-style marriage? Do you think it's
the gender roles or the shared obsession that makes them happier?

The idea of having to BE something else to keep your marriage is ridiculous to me.
Eating healthy non-processed foods, I get. Not going to bars and hanging out together, I get. Sitting at the table and eating a meal together, I get.
Driving a vintage car, wearing vintage clothes and listening to rockabilly in order to help your marriage is laughable.

Doesn't matter what it is about it that makes them happy. They are happy, and that's all that matters. That's all any of us can do isn't, live in a way that makes us happy. If more people lived in the way that would make them happy instead of how they felt they were supposed to/had to/felt cornered or forced to, wouldn't that be a good thing.

I love it way to make things work out.Those were a lot more simplier times not without their own problems but people made things work out better.

by Anonymous 3
on Jul. 24, 2014 at 3:31 PM

I don't think it's the gender roles or the shared obsession. I think it's the simplicity. Today's society has made life so complex and complicated. Everything is so micromanaged, high tech, fast paced. DH and I live a lifestyle very much like the 50's. We have the gender roles for the most part. He is the provider and I take care of the home. I don't make our clothing. Sadly, I don't do that so well and it's more expensive now than it used to be, anyway.

Weekends are spent with each other. We go to the movies or out to eat. We don't do the bar or club scene.

We do have laptops and a nice flat screen tv, as movies are a shared passion. But, we are not "teched out" as much as most people. We have simplified our lives and have found it to be much less stressful.

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